Tool boxes are commonly available which have a plurality of drawers, and within each drawer is an insert having a plurality of depressions or pockets therein each of which is shaped to retain a specific tool. Where such tool boxes are intended for use by auto mechanics, TV repairmen or other industries in which there are a great number of technicians, the tool boxes can be manufactured in volume and the inserts made of molded plastic or the like. Furthermore, the identification of the tool which is to be fitted into each pocket can be printed into the bottom of the molded inserts during the manufacturing process such that a user may easily return a tool to its correct location, or determine what tool, if any, is misplaced.
In certain industries, technicians are required who use tools which are not commonly available. For example, the military, space related projects, and medical related industries require specialized service technicians who make use of tools, many of which are highly specialized. The government, for example, has at any one time a number of specialized projects in process, and the technicians for each of the projects make use of a different set of specialized tools. Such users require that a tool box be custom assembled for the use of each technician. Since some of the tools are specially manufactured to suit the task of the technician, the tools themselves are often very expensive and, therefore, it is desirable to have an effective method of tracking tools on a work site. In some cases, such as space and military related projects, it is necessary for technicians to undertake a tool audit after the completion of each service task to avoid leaving a tool within the serviced equipment. Tool control is also important to minimize the time expended and cost incurred by the highly paid technicians.
To undertake a positive tool control, corporations desire a tool management system which provides for the quick identification of tools such that they may be easily inventoried and replaced. Technicians must be provided with a tool box which has inserts with pockets suitable for retaining the required tools. It is also desirable that the inserts bear labels which bear identifying part numbers or the like. In the preferred embodiment, one label would be imprinted at the bottom of each of the pockets.
Custom made tool boxes are usually made in quantities of from one to ten. Also, when a customer reorders a custom tool box, the customer will frequently require that the box be redesigned to accommodate changes in the tools to be stored therein. Such low volume short order tool boxes cannot be assembled with inserts of molded plastic. Presently, the inserts for custom made tool boxes are made of a closed cell compressible foam. These inserts have a lower layer of foam which rests on the bottom of the tool box drawer and an upper layer of foam having cut outs therein. Each of the cut outs in the upper layer is in the shape of the silhouette of the tool to be retained therein. The upper layer of foam is bonded to the lower layer and the upper surface of the lower layer becomes the bottom of the pocket, and edges of the cut outs in the upper layer become the sides of the pockets.
Purchasers of custom tool boxes are concerned with positive tool control and tool management systems and desire inserts for tool drawers which have labels at the bottom of each pocket similar to that which is available for large volume boxes. The United States Government has, for example, included labels at the bottom of the pockets in its specifications for custom tool boxes, however, the Government has withdrawn these specifications because custom made inserts as described above will not retain printed information on the foam of which they are made. Efforts to imprint a part number or the like on such inserts by etching the information into the foam or printing the information on the surface of the foam using a silk screen, ink jet or laser printing method have all been unsuccessful. It has been found that the pigment of the coloring used in such printing flakes off the foam of the insert, and the information printed thereon is rapidly lost.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a tool box insert which is made of compressible foam material having a plurality of pockets, and further having a label permanently printed at the bottom of each pocket thereof for identifying the tool to be retained therein.